This year I signed up with acid deposition sampling team doing bi-monthly water samples. My team does the Road Prong Area of the park. I found out our team leader Steve Darnell live less than a mile from me, so we have carpooled the last two samplings, and fished after the sampling

Last sampling I even got to meet Charlie B - Nvr2L8, who was a pleasure to meet and chat with. That time we finished just at 11:30 and he thought we had done the sampling in record time. Well yesterday not even trying we finished at 10:30. After dropping off the park service truck, we headed out of the park to our fishing destination. We got a quick bite to eat, and were at the trailhead in no time.

I was thrilled to see only 1 other car at the trailhead, and since they had Ontario tags, I doubted they were fishing, and was thrilled to have an awesome Smokies stream all to ourselves on a Saturday. As we hiked up the trail we soon ran into the family from Ontario. I asked if they made it to the focal point up the trail, but the first ridge they had to climb up turned them around. I told them how great the focal point was and a few of them were ready to turn around, but in the end they headed back to touristville. After a short climb we were now at a crossing, and headed a short ways more to the creek crossing where our fishing would begin.

The stream was at a great level for this time of the year, and within a minute landed this little guy.

At first it seemed like they were all hitting the dry fly, which would be nomal for this time of the year, but the first time it has happened to me this whole year.

And now for the target specie

Just as I considered cutting off my yellowhammer dropper, I strated to get the majority of fish on it. Go figure. Still "Hammertime" in Tennessee. Steve seemed to be having a good time and catching plenty of fish, although he said he was still missing most of the strikes. Here's the scenery as we walked upstream.

As I took a break waiting on Steve to catch up, I glanced at the end of a rotting tree branch and watched this ant. I'm not sure if they are ant larvae, or if it was termite larvae that he was eating. Life is everyehere in the Smokies

It soon began to rain, and it brought back memories of a trip Freddie and I did on this section of stream a few months back where we got rained on, got displaced on the bail out back to the trail, and got back to the car with barely enough dexterity to unlock and open the car door . Luckily today was 10 degrees warmer, and it only managed to soak us to the bone

The fish loved the rain and they began to feed. After thinking I had landed a huge one, I found out I had landed my first double of the year. I asked Steve if he wanted to keep fishing or bail, but the fishing must have been good to him also because he wanted to push on. You can see the rain drops

More of these guys, and the quality of fish was getting much better, and the Rainbows were fewer and fewer

Another pretty one

Pictures a bit blured Trying to get good shots out of a cheap camera in the rain is tough.

Continued as I'm out of pic room

Last edited by duckypaddler; 07-22-2012 at 02:00 PM..
Reason: needed to proof read

Here is a shot of Steve working a pool in the rain. This was the second round that showed up accompied by thunder and a little lightning just at the point the stream is furthest from the trail

After some more fishing the rain finally blew through, and I thought I had come up to some trash

After taking a look at the GPS in this location I realized it was someone's out marker, and marked where the stream comes back close to the trail. I just left it. If it's yours I would love to ask a question.

Well it turns out I wasn't the only one hooking a double today. Here's Steve with his multiple catch

As we continued to work upstream, the surroundings were getting better and better.

We caught a few more of these guys, and soon neared our exit point.

As we got withing 1/4 mile of our exit point, I reminded Steve of the arrow we were looking for. Freddie must not have maintained it, or maybe I missed it, but all I saw was RHODO

Since this was only the second time I was out with Steve, I didn't look forward to telling him we were going to have to do a little belley crawling (thinking we had a decent out) to get through the rhodo. We broke down our rods and I explored a route. Luckily we only had to belley crawl for 30 feet or so where we were able to just duck and work through the rest. After a short climb we were back on the trail

As we hiked back, we heard a big snap from a tree branch, only to get to see a bear go from 60- 80 feet in the air to the ground in less than 2 seconds down a tree. I knew thay climbed trees, but didn't realize how agile they are, and this was no cub. I grabbed my camera, but it was gone in a flash. We hiked back to the car where I though it was a little before 5 only to find it was 7:40 Yikes, I said I'd be back for dinner, and Steve was supposed to be grilling for family that was in town. The Smokies seems to always distort my time perception.

Another Great day in the GSMNP

Last edited by duckypaddler; 07-22-2012 at 03:34 PM..
Reason: chaged was to wasn't

They are ones I have bought at various fly shops, I need to start tying them. I believe Hugh Hartsell sells some dyed crow feathers that work pretty well. Don Kirk also had good recipes in his online magazine.